Tag: Gartner

Slower smartphone growth in 2016

Despite the launch of new models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, smartphone growth is expected to slow down this year.
Despite the launch of new models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, smartphone growth is expected to slow down this year.

Global smartphone sale is expected to experience just a single-digit growth this year, according to Gartner.

It estimates that global smartphone sale will reach 1.5 billion units, a seven percent increase from 2015. The total mobile phone market is predicted to reach 1.9 billion units in 2016.

“The double-digit growth era for the global smartphone market has come to an end. Historically, worsening economic conditions had negligible impact on smartphone sales and spend, but this is no longer the case. China and North America smartphone sales are on pace to be flat in 2016, exhibiting a 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent growth respectively,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director of Gartner.

While smartphone sales will continue to grow in emerging markets, the growth will slow down. Gartner predicts that, through 2019, 150 million users will delay upgrades to smartphones in emerging Asia-Pacific, until the functionality and price combination of a low-cost smartphone becomes more desirable.

Worldwide IT spending to remain flat this year

GartnerThe global economy is hitting IT spending, with Gartner predicting just a 0.6 percent increase over 2015 spending of US$3.52 trillion.

2015 saw the largest US dollar drop in IT spending since Gartner began tracking IT spending. US$216b less was spent on IT in 2015 than in 2014 and 2014 spending levels won’t be surpassed until 2019.

“The rising US dollar is the villain behind 2015 results. US multinationals’ revenue faced currency headwinds in 2015. However, in 2016 those headwinds go away and they can expect an additional five percent growth,” said John-David Lovelock, Research Vice President of Gartner.

Q2 PC shipment drops 9.5%

GartnerLenovo remained the top PC vendor amidst a 9.5 percent global PC shipment decline in Q2, according to Gartner. On the whole, Lenovo suffered along with the rest of the industry with a year-on-year shipment decline for the first time since Q2 2013.

HP also experienced a shipment decline after five consecutive quarters of PC shipment growth. It was impacted by tight inventory controls in the consumer market before the Windows 10 launch.

Worldwide PC shipment totalled 68.4 million units in Q2 with 2015 shipment expected to drop 4.4 percent.

India software market up 8% in 2014

GartnerSoftware revenue in India rose 8.3 percent to hit US$4 billion in 2014, according to Gartner.

“The enterprise software marketplace is dynamic and ever-changing. Its growth and structure are being shaped by the factors and forces of decentralised purchasing, consumerisation and mobility, influence of emerging markets, cloud-based implementations, and new consumption models. Improvement in global economic conditions has somewhat relaxed the strain on the Indian economy, thereby boosting corporate sentiments. Along with a new stable government at the center, this has helped in alleviating concerns about economic growth — to a certain extent — with early signs of spending in growth initiatives beginning to emerge,” said Bhavish Sood, Research Director of Gartner.

Several leading trends include:

  • Software as a service (SaaS) adoption and development
  • Open-source software (OSS) adoption and its broader market implications
  • Changing buying behaviors and purchasing styles associated with the digital business
  • Spending in key growth markets such as India and China

Amazon takes pole position in Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 ranking

GartnerE-commerce giant Amazon has emerged tops in Gartner’s 11th annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking, which identifies global supply chain leaders and highlights their best practices.

Fast food chain McDonald’s came in second and consumer goods maker Unilever third.

“In this edition of the Supply Chain Top 25, we have several longtime leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high-tech, consumer products, retail and industrial sectors,” said Stan Aronow, Research Vice President of Gartner.

APAC device shipment to grow 3.2% in 2015

GartnerShipment of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones) in Asia Pacific are expected to hit 1.2 billion units in 2015, an increase of 3.2 percent over 2014, according to Gartner.

“Device penetration is very high in Asia Pacific – at or beyond saturation point in mature markets and major cities in the emerging markets. Market saturation, along with consumers extending the lifetime of their tablets, has caused a re-calibration in the growth trajectory in the market. From 2016, we expect the tablet market to resume growth from a stabilised base,” said Lillian Tay, Principal Analyst of Gartner.

The computing devices market is forecast to drop 1.9 percent this year, affected by weak demand for tablets. The PC market overall will continue to grow slightly, as shipment in the premium ultramobile category compensate for a decline in sales of traditional desk-based and notebook PCs.

Business intelligence and analytics top priorities for Asean CIOs

GartnerBusiness intelligence and analytics are the top priorities of CIOs in Southeast Asia (SEA), according to a Gartner survey.Next on their list are mobile, ERP and cloud.

Eighty-four percent of CIOs in SEA recognise the need to adapt their leadership style in the next three years to succeed in digital business, compared with the global average of 75 percent. To achieve this, 69 percent said that they want to decrease their controlling approach to focus on significantly increasing their visionary and coaching attributes.

The annual survey covered more than 2,810 CIOs worldwide, representing more than US$397 billion in CIO IT budgets in 84 countries. It included responses from 117 CIOs from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Lenovo strengthens grip on top spot as PC shipment rises 1% in Q4

GartnerLenovo maintained its pole position in the PC market, holding off HP and Dell. However, the gap between Lenovo and HP narrowed as HP garnered 18.8 percent of the market in Q4, relative to Lenovo’s 19.4 percent, according to Gartner. Dell remained third with 12.7 percent market share.

Overall, worldwide PC shipment totalled 83.7 million units in Q4, a one-percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2013. These results indicate a slow, but consistent improvement following more than two years of decline.

“The PC market is quietly stabilising after the installed base reduction driven by users diversifying their device portfolios. Installed base PC displacement by tablets peaked in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst of Gartner.

Tablet sales to be sluggish in 2015

GartnerGlobal demand for tablets will continue to be slow in 2015, according to Gartner. Worldwide tablet sales will reach 233 million units, an eight percent increase from 2014.

“The collapse of the tablet market in 2014 was alarming. In the last two years, global sales of tablets were growing in double-digits. The steep drop can be explained by several factors. One is that the lifetime of tablets is being extended – they are shared out among family members and software upgrades, especially for iOS devices, keep the tablets current. Another factor includes the lack of innovation in hardware which refrains consumers from upgrading,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director of Gartner.

Gartner analysts expect vendors in the devices space to announce new partnerships at CES this week that lead to innovative apps that use personal data to tailor the user experience.

Singapore government IT spending hits US$3.2b

GartnerThe Singapore government continued to invest in IT this year with spending expected to hit US$3.2 billion, up 3.2 percent from 2013.

According to Anurag Gupta, Research Director of Gartner, IT services, which includes consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, would be the largest overall spending category throughout the forecast period within the government sector.”

“Government spending on IT services is expected to grow three percent in 2014 to reach US$1.9 billion, up from US$1.8 billion in 2013 – with the business process outsourcing segment growing 5.3 percent in 2014,” he noted.

Smart garments show greatest potential for growth among wearable devices

GartnerWearable electronic devices for fitness shipments are forecast to reach 68.1 million units in 2015, down from 70 million units in 2014, according to Gartner. This temporary dip in sales will be driven by an overlap in functionality between smart wristbands, other wearable fitness monitors and smartwatches.

However, the market for smart wristbands and other fitness monitors will rebound in 2016 because of versatile designs and models with lower-cost displays.

“Fitness wearables are used for tracking health, which goes hand-in-hand with fitness and wellness. Consumers will be able to integrate the data from most wearables into a single account where their data can be analysed using cognizant computing to provide useful insights to wearers.,” said Angela McIntyre, Research Director of Gartner.

3D printers set for rapid growth

GartnerThe global 3D printer market is set to double next year to reach 217,350 units in 2015, according to Gartner.

From then, 3D printer shipment will more than double every year between 2015 and 2018, by which time worldwide shipments are forecast to reach more than 2.3 million.

“As we noted last year, the 3D printer market is at an inflection point. Unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers, which languished in the low single and double digits per year throughout the 30 years since the first 3D printers were invented, are poised to increase dramatically beginning in 2015. As radical as the forecast numbers may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3 million shipments that we forecast will be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of the total potential market of consumers, businesses and government organisations worldwide,” said Pete Basiliere, Research Vice President of Gartner.

Worldwide semiconductor market to grow 7.2% this year

GartnerA slew of demand for semiconductors is helping the industry to hit a targeted 7.2 percent growth to hit US$338 billion this year.

Apple and Samsung are among the many IT vendors that have unleashed new products in recent months, spurring the growth in the semiconductor market.

“Semiconductor revenue set an all-time record in the third quarter of 2014, fueled by a strong electronics build for the holiday season. Get ready for a flood of new product introductions, ranging from simple low-cost tablets to high-end ultramobiles and smartphones. Demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has been robust, but there is concern for other types of devices planned for the holidays,” said Jon Erensen, Research Director of Gartner.

Watch for it — US$30 smartwatches next year!

mi-bandSmartwatches are attracting lots of attention but the prices are keeping many at bay, at least for now. Come next year, the prices are expected to average US$30, as smartphone vendors and component suppliers look to tap this market. In fact, Xiaomi has already introduced the Mi Band at just US$13.

Gartner predicts that by 2016, smartwatches will comprise about 40 percent of consumer wristworn devices. Nine out of the top 10 smartphone vendors have entered the wearables market to date or are about to ship a first product, while a year ago only two vendors were in that space.

“Apple has finally unveiled its Apple Watch, which we expect to trigger more consumer interest once it starts shipping in 2015,” said Angela McIntyre, Research Director of Gartner.

75% of mobile apps will fail security test

Gartner

Enterprise employees are downloading mobile applications from app stores and use these applications to access enterprise assets or perform business functions. What’s scary is that many of these applications have little or no security assurances.

According to Gartner, more than 75 percent of mobile applications will fail basic security tests in 2015. These applications are exposed to attacks and violations of enterprise security policies.

“Enterprises that embrace mobile computing and bring your own device (BYOD) strategies are vulnerable to security breaches unless they adopt methods and technologies for mobile application security testing and risk assurance. Most enterprises are inexperienced in mobile application security. Even when application security testing is undertaken, it is often done casually by developers who are mostly concerned with the functionality of applications, not their security,” said Dionisio Zumerle, Principal Research Analyst of Gartner.

Consumer 3D printing not quite there yet

GartnerWhile 3D printing is a much talked about topic these days with several startups getting crowdfunding to deliver such solutions, Gartner beileves that the technology is five to 10 years away from mainstream adoption.

The research firm pointed out that consumer adoption will be outpaced by business and medical applications that have more compelling use cases in the short term.

“Consumer 3D printing is around five to 10 years away from mainstream adoption. Today, approximately 40 manufacturers sell the 3D printers most commonly used in businesses, and over 200 startups worldwide are developing and selling consumer-oriented 3D printers, priced from just a few hundred dollars. However, even this price is too high for mainstream consumers at this time, despite broad awareness of the technology and considerable media interest,” said Pete Basiliere, Research Vice President of Gartner.

Chromebook sales to nearly triple by 2017

Acer Chromebook 13Acer has launched the Acer Chromebook 13, its first 13-inch Chromebook as well as the first Chromebook to use the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor, which gives the new Chromebook a performance edge and longer battery life of up to 13 hours.

This rollout should help Acer concretise its position as the number in the Chromebook market, behind leader Samsung, which had 64.9 percent market share in 2013.

Gartner expects sales of Chromebooks to reach 5.2 million units this year, a 79 percent increase from 2013. By 2017, sales of Chromebooks are set to nearly triple to reach 14.4 million units.

India security market on track for 8% growth this year

GartnerSecurity vendor revenue (hardware, software and services) in India will grow from US$882 million in 2013 to US$953 million this year, according to Gartner.

Security spending will continue to grow to reach $1.06 billion next year. Security services (including consulting, implementation, support, and managed security services) revenue accounted for more than 55 percent of this total revenue in 2013 and this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

“Enterprises in India that traditionally did not focus on, or invest in, a lot of security technologies are now beginning to realize the implications that a weak security and risk posture can have on their business,” said Sid Deshpande, Principal Research Analyst ofGartner.

PC market on slow road to recovery

GartnerWorldwide combined shipment of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) are expected to reach 2.4 billion units in 2014, a 4.2 percent increase from 2013, according to Gartner.

After declining 9.5 percent in 2013, the global PC market (desktop, notebook and premium ultramobile) is on pace to contract only 2.9 percent in 2014.

“2014 will be marked by a relative revival of the global PC market. This year, we anticipate nearly 60 million professional PC replacements in mature markets,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director of Gartner.

Gartner acquires Q&A platform

Gartner has acquired Senexx, a cloud-based question and answer platform that identifies and manages expertise within organisations. It will leverage Senexx’s proven expertise to significantly enhance its web search capability and augment its content recommendation engine and […]

Worldwide PC shipment dips 1.7% in Q1

GartnerGlobal PC shipment dipped 1.7 percent to 76.6 million units Q1, compared to the same period last year, according to  apreliminary results by Gartner.

“The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst of Gartner. “All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter. Among key countries, Japan was greatly affected by the end of XP support, registering a 35 percent year-over-year increase in PC shipments. The growth was also boosted by sales tax change. We expect the impact of XP migration worldwide to continue throughout 2014.”

“While the PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year. The PC professional market generally improved in regions such as EMEA. The US saw the gradual recovery of PC spending as the impact of tablets faded.” said Kitagawa.

Gartner: Gamification driving digital business

GartnerGamification has become an essential part of any digital business strategy as a way of digitally motivating people and overcoming barriers of scale, time, distance, connectedness, and cost, according to Gartner. Digital business leaders are using gamification to add value to the product offer, to increase employee engagement and to drive crowdsourced innovation.

Gamification has tremendous potential, but right now most organizations aren’t getting it right. The road to gamification success is full of pitfalls, and many companies don’t understand how critical player motivation is to success.

In the newly-launched book Gamify — How Gamification Motivates People to Do Extraordinary Things, Brian Burke, Research Vice President of Gartner, explains how to design an experience that touches people on an emotional, rather than transactional, level and motivates them to achieve their goals.

Worldwide PC, tablet, ultramobile, and mobile phone shipment to grow 7.6% this year

GartnerGlobal shipment of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones) are projected to reach 2.5 billion units in 2014, a 7.6 percent increase from 2013, according to Gartner.

Among the operating system (OS) market, Android is on pace to surpass one billion users across all devices in 2014. By 2017, more than 75 percent of Android’s volumes will come from emerging markets.

“The device market continues to evolve, with buyers deciding which combination of devices is required to meet their wants and needs. Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director at Gartner. “Meanwhile users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool, while the greater flexibility of tablets, hybrids and lighter notebooks address users’ increasingly different demands.”

Gartner: 26b Internet of Things units by 2020

GartnerThe Internet of Things (IoT), which excludes PCs, tablets and smartphones, will grow to 26 billion units installed in 2020, representing an almost 30-fold increase from 0.9 billion in 2009, according to Gartner.

Gartner said that IoT product and service suppliers will generate incremental revenue exceeding US$300 billion, mostly in services, in 2020. It will result in US$1.9 trillion in global economic value-add through sales into diverse end markets.  The verticals that are leading its adoption are manufacturing (15 percent), healthcare (15 percent) and insurance (11 percent).

IoT is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment.

Red Bull builds global B2B portal with hybris

Red BullRed Bull has implemented a new global B2B order management portal based on the hybris B2B Commerce solution. Known as the SOET 2.0 Solution, the portal provides a highly flexible solution for quick and easy order entry for global retailers and distributors placing orders with the beverage brand across multiple channels.

Launched in March, the global roll-out was completed in June  and 79 countries are now using Red Bull’s order management portal utilizing hybris’ B2B Commerce solution.

Founded by Dietrich Mateschitz in the mid-1980s and inspired by functional drinks from the Far East, Red Bull is currently available in more than 165 countries.

Your smartphone will be smarter than you by 2017

GartnerIn four years’ time, your smartphone may be smarter than you. It will be able to predict your next move, next purchase or interpret actions based on what it knows, according to Gartner. This insight will be performed based on an individual’s data gathered using cognizant computing — the next step in personal cloud computing.

“Mobile phones have turned into smartphones thanks to two things: technology and apps,” Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President of Gartner. “Technology has added features such as cameras, locations and sensors, while apps have connected those to an array of functions that, for the most part, add and improve our day to day life from a social, knowledge, entertainment and productivity point of view.” 

What smartphones can do through apps has improved and broadened thanks to the personal cloud. “We assume that apps will acquire knowledge over time and get better with improved predictions of what users need and want, with data collection and response happening in real-time,” she added.

Target: Silver surfers

GartnerThe Baby Boomer generation is unlike any other. More technologically advanced, savvy and adaptable, they have been blessed with a slew of technologies and are not afraid to use them — for work and play.

Such is their influence that Gartner has note that silver surfers represent a more important technology market than Generation X and Generation Y.

Gartner Vice President and Fellow David Furlonger pointed out that with an aging population in many mature and emerging markets, technologists, designers and marketers must refocus to seize this crucial opportunity.

Global video game market to reach US$93b

GartnerThe worldwide video game marketplace, which includes video game console hardware and software, online, mobile and PC games, will reach US$93 billion in 2013, up from $79 billion in 2012, according to Gartner.

Driven by strong mobile gaming and video game console and software sales, the market is forecast to hit US$111 billion by 2015.

Mobile games are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with revenue set to nearly double between 2013 and 2015 from US$13.2 billion to US$22 billion.

Cloud Computing to account for most of IT budget by 2016

GartnerCloud computing adoption is growing and will form the bulk of new IT spend in 2016. According to Gartner, 2016 will be a defining year for cloud as private cloud begins to give way to hybrid cloud, and nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.

Gartner describes cloud computing as a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered “as a service” using Internet technologies. It heralds an evolution of business in positive and negative ways. It has also become a hot industry term that has been used in many contradictory ways.

“Overall, there are very real trends toward cloud platforms, and also toward massively scalable processing. Virtualisation, service orientation and the Internet have converged to sponsor a phenomenon that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models,” said Chris Howard, Research Vice President of Gartner. “Services delivered through the cloud will foster an economy based on delivery and consumption of everything from storage to computation to video to finance deduction management.”

Lower-priced products to drive devices growth in 2013

GartnerLower-priced devices are driving the growth of worldwide combined shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones in 2013, according to Gartner. The global devices market is expected to hit 2.32 billion units, a 4.5 percent increase from 2012.

Worldwide shipments of traditional PCs (desk-based and notebook) are forecast to total 303 million units in 2013, an 11.2 percent decline from 2012, and the PC market, including ultramobiles, is forecast to drop 8.4 percent. Mobile phone shipments are projected to grow 3.7 percent, with volume of more than 1.8 billion units.

Tablet shipments are expected to grow 42.7 percent this year, with shipments reaching 184 million units. Premium tablets are faced with continued price decline in the 7-inch form factor as a larger number of consumers prefer smaller form factors when it comes to content consumption.

India Green IT and sustainability spending to hit US$29.2b

GartnerIndia’s spending on green IT and sustainability initiatives will reach US$29.2 billion in 2013 a 17.6 percent increase from US$24.8 billion in 2012, according to Gartner.

In the  “Hype Cycle for Green IT and Sustainability in India, 2013,” report, analysts said while businesses and investors in India are slowly waking up to green and sustainability issues, policymakers in the government are clearly pushing for changes that will likely set the tone for green and sustainable, low-carbon economic growth in the country in the coming years.

“Many Indian organisations still lack the strategic focus that comes with a clear understanding of the core issues and key technologies that bring about real change in the vision for sustainability and green IT in an organisation,” said Ganesh Ramamoorthy, Research Director of Gartner. “Therefore, policy initiatives and regulatory measures from the Indian government will be the key drivers for implementation of some of the technologies (such as advanced metering infrastructure, carbon capture and sequestration, intelligent transportation system, and solar energy technology) necessary to usher in low-carbon sustainable growth.”

APAC PC shipment down 11.2% in Q3

GartnerAPAC PC shipment continued to head south with 28.1 million units in Q3, an 11.2 percent decline from Q3 of 2012, according to Gartner. Factors contributing to the drop were currency volatilities, especially in India and Indonesia, where currencies plunged to record lows. Vendors were careful in managing inventory, bearing in mind Windows 8.1 and new models based on Intel’s Bay Trail that will start shipping the following quarter.

Globally, PC shipment totaled 80.3 million units in Q3, an 8.6 percent decline from the same period last year. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of declining worldwide shipments.

“The third quarter is often referred to as the ‘back-to-school’ quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst of Gartner. “Consumers’ shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets. A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.”

Gartner: Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2014

Gartner3D printing, personal cloud, the Internet of Everything — these buzzwords today are expected to be among the top 10 strategic technology trends next year, according to Gartner.

Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.

A strategic technology may be an existing technology that has matured and/or become suitable for a wider range of uses. It may also be an emerging technology that offers an opportunity for strategic business advantage for early adopters or with potential for significant market disruption in the next five years. These technologies impact the organisation’s long-term plans, programs and initiatives.

Beginning of the Digital Industrial Economy

GartnerWorldwide IT spending is forecast to reach US$3.8 trillion in 2014, a 3.6 percent increase from 2013, but it’s the opportunities of a digital world that have IT leaders excited, according to Gartner.

The beginning of the Digital Industrial Economy will make every budget an IT budget; every company a technology company; every business a digital leader, and every person a technology company.

“The Digital Industrial Economy will be built on the foundations of the Nexus of Forces (which includes a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information) and the Internet of Everything by combining the physical world and the virtual,” said Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President of Gartner and Global Head of Research.

Global 3D printer shipment to grow 49%

Gartner3D printing is gaining traction with Gartner expecting worldwide shipments of 3D printers (3DPs) priced less than US$100,000 expected to grow 49 percent this year to reach a total of 56,507 units.

Rapid quality and performance innovations across all 3DP technologies will drive enterprise and consumer demand. Gartner said that shipments will increase further in 2014, growing 75 percent to 98,065 units, followed by a near doubling of unit shipments in 2015.

“The 3D printer market has reached its inflection point. While still a nascent market, with hype outpacing the technical realities, the speed of development and rise in buyer interest are pressing hardware, software and service providers to offer easier-to-use tools and materials that produce consistently high-quality results,” said Pete Basiliere, Research Director of Gartner.

Half of large enterprises to have hybrid cloud by 2017

GartnerNearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017, according to Gartner. In the past three years, private cloud computing has moved from an aspiration to a tentative reality for nearly half of large enterprises. Hybrid cloud computing is at the same place today that private cloud was three years ago. Actual deployments are low but aspirations are high.

When it comes to drivers of private cloud computing, while cost is always an important consideration, a business case for private cloud cannot rely on lower costs as the primary justification.

“Virtualisation reduces capital expenses, and standards and automation reduce operational expenses,” said Thomas Bittman, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst of Gartner. “However, taking the next step of adding usage metrics, self-service offerings and automated provisioning requires investment in technologies without a significant reduction in operational cost. With this in mind, the driving factor for going that next step should primarily be agility.”

Worldwide IT outsourcing market to grow to US$288b in 2013

GartnerThe worldwide IT outsourcing (ITO) market is predicted to reach US$288 billion in 2013, a 2.8 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner. Compared with Gartner’s previous forecast, nearly all ITO segments are now forecasted to grow more slowly this year.

Gartner’s forecast includes slight upward revisions for both custom application outsourcing and infrastructure utility services (IUS) for 2014 through 2017. Although software as a service (SaaS) impacts the ITO market, it is forecasted as part of the software market, rather than as part of the ITO market.

“We continue to see overall market growth being constrained by near-term market factors, such as evolving ITO delivery models, economic, political and labor conditions, and service provider financial performance,” said Bryan Britz, Research Vice President at Gartner. “Mature Asia/Pacific and Western Europe are the regions where the outlook is most tempered, partly due to currency but also reflective of our view that 2013 is likely to be similar to 2012 in these regions.”

Gartner adjusts worldwide IT spending projection downwards to 2% growth this year

GartnerGartner has adjusted its worldwide IT spending forecast for 2013 downwards to US$3.7 trillion in 2013. Last quarter, the research firm predicted a 4,1 percent increase compared to 2012 but that projection has been sliced by half to 2 percent. This reduction takes into account the impact of recent fluctuations in US dollar exchange rates. 

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the a leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognise market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.

“Exchange rate movements, and a reduction in our 2013 forecast for devices, account for the bulk of the downward revision of the 2013 growth,” said Richard Gordon, Managing Vice President at Gartner.

Gartner: Worldwide PC, tablet and mobile phone shipments to grow 5.9% in 2013

GartnerCombined shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones are projected to reach 2.35 billion units in 2013, a 5.9 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner. The market is being driven by sales in tablets, smartphones and to a lesser extent, ultramobiles, as PC shipments are on the decline.

Worldwide traditional PC (desk-based and notebook) shipments are forecast to total 305 million units in 2013, a 10.6 percent decline from 2012 , while the PC market including ultramobiles is forecast to decline 7.3 percent in 2013. Tablet shipments are expected to grow 67.9 percent, with shipments reaching 202 million units, while the mobile phone market will grow 4.3 percent, with volume of more than 1.8 billion units.

The sharp decline in PC sales recorded in Q1 was the result in a change in preferences in consumers’ wants and needs, but also an adjustment in the channel to make room for new products hitting the market in the second half of 2013.

Gartner: BI software revenue to reach US$113m in India this year

GartnerBusiness intelligence (BI) software revenue in India is forecasted to reach US$113 million in 2013, a 16 percent increase over  2012 revenue of US$98.1 million, according to Gartner. This forecast includes revenue for BI platforms, analytic applications and corporate performance management (CPM) software.

“Pressures from consumers, environmental policies, government and industry regulations, international standards of quality, and internal operational efficiency are forcing enterprises to improve their operations and processes to become both agile and efficient in a volatile marketplace, “ said Bhavish Sood, Research Director at Gartner. “These internal and external pressures are driving increased adoption of  analytics solutions across the country.”

India BI Software Software Forecast Estimates (US$m)

Subsegment Data

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Analytic Applications and Performance Management

Sum of Revenue (M)

14.2

16.8

20.0

23.6

27.8

Growth (%)

14.24

18.94

18.45

18.07

17.87

CPM Suites

Sum of Revenue (M)

18.6

22.0

26.0

30.7

36.1

Growth (%)

11.97

18.32

18.03

17.85

17.62

BI Platforms

Sum of Revenue (M)

65.3

74.1

84.0

95.1

107.4

Growth (%)

13.86

13.43

13.40

13.11

12.93

Total Sum of Revenue (M)

98.1

113.0

130.0

149.3

171.2

Total Growth (%)

13.55

15.15

15.05

14.82

14.67

Gartner (June 2013)

APAC shines in gloomy Q1 for servers

GartnerThe Asia/Pacific posted the strongest growth in server shipment (7.0 percent) and revenue (1.7 percent) year-on-year in Q1.

The US was the only other region to post growth, according to Gartner.

“While these two regions grew in both shipments and revenue, it was not enough to offset the declines of the other geographies – all of which declined in server shipments and revenue for the quarter,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, Research Vice President at Gartner. 

hybris a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for e-commerce

hybrisFor the second year running, hybris has been included as a Leader in Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce. Following substantial growth in 2011, hybris has further consolidated its position as the market’s dominant independent e-commerce and omni-channel vendor.

“Given the size of our next two biggest competitors, we believe our placement in the report confirms that hybris represents the most compelling e-commerce and omni-channel solution available in the market today,” said Ariel Luedi, CEO of hybris.

“Both our larger competitors, and smaller-sized vendors, struggle to compete with us on performance, value and functionality. In the next 12 months, we look forward to increasing our market share and building on the gains we made in 2012,” he added.

Gartner: APAC led mobile phone growth in Q1

GartnerThe Asia-Pacific region grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in Q1 mobile phone sales, the only region in the world to register growth, according to Gartner.

Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled nearly 426 million units this period, only a slight increase of 0.7 percent from the same period last year. Worldwide smartphone sales hit 210 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 42.9 percent from the first quarter of 2012.

“More than 226 million mobile phones were sold to end users in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2013, which helped the region increase its share of global mobile phones to 53.1 percent year-on-year,” said Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. “In addition, China saw its mobile phone sales increase 7.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and its sales represented 25.7 percent of global mobile phone sales, up nearly 2 percentage points year-on-year.

Gartner: India IT infrastructure spending to reach US$2.3b by 2014

GartnerThe Indian IT infrastructure market, comprising of server, storage and networking equipment, will hit US$2.1 billion this year, growing 9.7 percent compared to 2012, according to Gartner.

“Despite global economic challenges, India provides strong growth opportunities across segments including infrastructure. Infrastructure alone is expected to surpass US$2.9 billion in 2017,” said Naveen Mishra, Research Director at Gartner. “The Nexus of Forces – big data, cloud, social and mobility – are finding real-time business driven use cases which is bringing a paradigm shift in the way IT is delivering business impact and hence, changing the role of an Indian CIO.”

The Indian IT infrastructure market is driven by hardware refresh, optimisation and consolidation efforts. New data centre build out, primarily driven by service providers, is providing added impetus to this market.

Gartner: Indian public cloud services market to hit US$443m in 2013

GartnerLooks like the public cloud services market in India is growing fast. According to Gartner, this market is expected to grow 36 percent from US$326 million in 2012 to US$443 million in 2013.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), including cloud compute, storage and print services, continues as the fastest-growing segment of the market in India, growing 22.7 percent in 2012 to US$43.1 million, and is expected to grow another 39.6 percent in 2013 to US$60.2 million.

Software as a service (SaaS) continues to be the largest segment of the cloud services market in India, comprising 36 percent of the total market in 2012. Gartner predicts that from 2013 through 2017, US$4.2 billion will be spent on cloud services in India, US$1.6 billion of which will be spent on SaaS.

Gartner: India’s mobile services market to hit US$2.2b in 2013

GartnerIndia’s mobile services market is continuing its growth momentum. According to Gartner, it will increase by 8 percent to hit US$2.2b this year. Mobile connections will grow 11 percent to 770 million in 2013.

“The mobile market in India will continue to face challenges if average revenue per unit (ARPU) does not grow significantly,” said Shalini Verma, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. “If the prevailing conditions do not change in the Indian telecom market, India will account for 12 percent worldwide mobile connections, but just 2 percent of worldwide mobile services revenue (in constant US$) in 2013.”

Indian telecom operators are faced with two major challenges – growing their profit margin in the face of intense competition and successfully competing with over the top service providers, such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

Gartner: Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending down 16% in 2012

GartnerWorldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending declined 16.1 percent to US$37.8 billion in 2012, according to Gartner. Wafer-level manufacturing underperformed in 2012, pulled down by weakness in lithography and deposition. Among the major sectors, those more strongly driven by logic manufacturing, 28/20-nanometer (nm) processing and yield ramps-ups did better.

“Continued oversupply in DRAM and the shift to NAND into oversupply led to a reduced need for capacity,” said Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, Managing Vice President at Gartner. “Memory manufacturing-related purchases declined significantly. Logic-related spending provided only a weak counterforce, impacted by slowing overall semiconductor device demand in the second half of 2012 and bulging inventories. Consequently, manufacturing equipment sales realized a declining quarterly pattern, starting in the second quarter through the end of the year.”

Applied Materials reclaimed the top spot based on its relative strength in deposition and process control. Weakness in lithography and limited sales in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) caused ASML’s decline. Similar to Applied, Tokyo Electron Ltd (TEL) benefited from its relative strength in the nonlithography sectors it serves. Lam Research moved to 4th following its merger with Novellus Systems.

Gartner: Top 10 technology trends for the energy and utilities sector

GartnerGartner has identified the top ten technology trends affecting the global energy and utility markets in 2013, as the industry faces significant challenges from ongoing environmental sensitivity, changing policymaker attitudes and consumer expectations.

“Searching for successful business models that will address these issues and generate anticipated shareholder returns in uncertain regulatory settings is a top priority for this industry,” said report author Kristian Steenstrup, Vice President and Gartner Fellow. “This is in addition to protecting the security of critical generation and delivery infrastructure, as well as maintaining system reliability with aging physical assets. Public and private utilities are looking at how technology can reduce cost, drive efficiency and enhance competitive advantage.”

According to Steenstrup, what was once considered a conservative and slow-moving industry has seen a wide range of innovation from within and outside the traditional IT organization. He believes that understanding business trends is a crucial requirement for energy and utility organisations to create a successful IT strategy in this market.

Gartner: 2.4b PCs, tablets and mobile phones to ship in 2013

GartnerWorldwide shipment of PCs, tablets and mobile phones are expected to top 2.4 billion units in 2013, a 9 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner. Device shipments are predicted to reach more than 2.9 billion units in 2017. However, the mix of these devices will significantly change over the forecast period.

The proliferation of lower-priced tablets and their growing capability is accelerating the shift from PCs to tablets.

“While there will be some individuals who retain both a personal PC and a tablet, especially those who use either or both for work and play, most will be satisfied with the experience they get from a tablet as their main computing device,” said Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President at Gartner. “As consumers shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones, they will no longer see their PC as a device that they need to replace on a regular basis.”

Gartner: Worldwide mobile advertising revenue to hit US$11.4b this year

GartnerWorldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach $11.4 billion in 2013, up from $9.6 billion in 2012, according to Gartner. Worldwide revenue will reach $24.5 billion in 2016 with mobile advertising revenue creating new opportunities for app developers, ad networks, mobile platform providers, specialty agencies and even communications service providers in certain regions.

“The mobile advertising market took off even faster than we expected due to an increased uptake in smartphones and tablets, as well as the merger of consumer behaviors on computers and mobile devices,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, Research Director of Gartner. “Growth in mobile advertising comes in part at the expense of print formats, especially local newspapers, which currently face much lower ad yields as a result of mobile publishing initiatives.”

“Smartphones and media tablets extend the addressable market for mobile advertising in more and more geographies as an increasing population of users spends an increasing share of its time with these devices,” said Andrew Frank, Research Vice President of Gartner. “This market will therefore become easier to segment and target, driving the growth of mobile advertising spend for brands and advertisers. Mobile advertising should be integrated into advertisers’ overall marketing campaigns in order to connect with their audience in very specific, actionable ways through their smartphones and/or tablets.”

Gartner: Declining worldwide PC shipments in Q4 of 2012 signal structural shift

GartnerWorldwide PC shipments totaled 90.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 4.9 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2011, according to preliminary results by Gartner. Analysts said the PC industry’s problems point to something beyond a weak economy.

PC shipments in Asia/Pacific totalled 29.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 1.8 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2011. Vendors struggled to offer compelling products to convince buyers to upgrade and attract new buyers as consumers’ interest continues to be on smartphones and tablets. The introduction of Windows 8 met with lukewarm response and availability was primarily on the higher-end models, which were priced beyond the mainstream price point for volume sales.

“Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by ‘cannibalizing’ PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC. There will be some individuals who retain both, but we believe they will be exception and not the norm. Therefore, we hypothesise that buyers will not replace secondary PCs in the household, instead allowing them to age out and shifting consumption to a tablet.”

Gartner: Worldwide IT spending to reach US$3.7 trillion in 2013

GartnerWorldwide IT spending is projected to total US$3.7 trillion in 2013, a 4.2 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner. The 2013 outlook for IT spending growth has been revised upward from 3.8 percent in the 3Q12 forecast.

Gartner analysts said much of this spending increase is the result from projected gains in the value of foreign currencies versus the US dollar. When measured in constant dollars, 2013 spending growth is forecast to be 3.9 percent.

The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.

Gartner’s Top 5 IT predictions for China in 2013 and beyond

GartnerGartner has published its top five IT predictions for China in 2013 and beyond, as China’s IT market undergoes major transformation, especially in cloud and mobility. Analysts said that although China’s IT market has similarities with the global IT market, it also faces challenges and opportunities that are very specific to the Chinese marketplace.

Enterprise spending on IT in China is forecast to grow from US$117.8 billion in 2013 to reach $172.4 billion in 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent, compared to a global growth rate of 3 percent over the same period, according to Gartner.

“In common with many emerging markets, cloud and mobile initiatives are hot and enterprises are also making progress in adopting virtualisation technologies, a key stepping stone in the journey to cloud,” said Matthew Cheung, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Without the legacy systems that hamper many western enterprises, Chinese organisations have an opportunity to leapfrog in the adoption of new technologies. However, the current hype around cloud could also result in its failure to live up to market expectation in a few years time. In mobility, China is a market characterised by strong local flavors, especially in the fast growing smartphone and tablet markets.”

Gartner predictions for IT organisations and users for 2013 and beyond

GartnerGartner has revealed its top predictions for IT organisations and IT users for 2013 and beyond.

Gartner’s top predictions focus on economic risks, opportunities and innovations that will impel CIOs to move to the next generation of business-driven solutions. Selected from across Gartner’s research areas as the most compelling and critical predictions, they address the trends and topics that underline the reduction of control that IT has over the forces that affect it.

“The priorities of CEOs must be dealt with by CIOs who exist in a still-turbulent economy and increasingly uncertain technology future,” said Daryl Plummer, Managing Vice President and Gartner Fellow. “As consumerisation takes hold and the Nexus of Forces drives CEOs to certain expectations, CIOs must still provide reliability, serviceability and availability of systems and services. Their priorities must span multiple areas. As the world of IT moves forward, it is finding that it must coordinate activities in a much wider scope than it once controlled, and as a result, a loss of control echoes through several predictions we are making.”

Gartner: Worldwide server shipments up 3.6%, revenue down 2.8%

GartnerIn the third quarter of 2012 worldwide server shipments grew 3.6 percent year-on-year, while revenue decreased 2.8 from the third quarter of 2011, according to Gartner, Inc.

“The third quarter of 2012 again produced shipment growth on a worldwide level, but server revenue was weak due to ongoing economic weakness and market segment differences,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. “Only the North America and Asia/Pacific regions managed any revenue growth, and even those were essentially flat year to year, with North America showing a 1.1 percent increase and Asia/Pacific a 0.7 percent increase. The picture in terms of shipments was slightly more positive with North America, Latin America and Asia/Pacific all growing, but both EMEA and Japan continue to struggle and both saw shipments contract, compared to the same period last year.”